GigaOM » Nvidia

Want cheap high-performance computing at scale like Google? Look to GPUs

Jordan Novet — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 19:37:35 +0000

Some startups pitch themselves as ways to extend certain impressive things Google can do to everyone, from real-time website updates to machine learning. One of Google’s next-generation projects is without doubt the so-called Google Brain, to make search and other products behave more intuitively based on information Google already knows about users. Now one researcher behind Google Brain is showing how other companies can do their own deep-learning computations at a non-Google price with GPUs and Infiniband interconnects.

As Wired noted Monday, researchers including Stanford professor Andrew Ng, who has done work on the Google Brain project — along with Google Fellow Jeff Dean, who will speak at our Structure conference in San Francisco on Wednesday — have published a paper showing how it is possible to use GPUs just as often as CPUs for this sort of heavy-duty work, particularly for quickly training neural networks. Such a system could cost $20,000, compared with the approximately $1 million price tag for Google’s project, according to the Wired article.

In the research, the cluster deployed 16 servers, each of which contained two quad-core processors, four Nvidia GPUs and an Infiniband adapter. The servers were connected by an Infiniband switch. “This particular server configuration was chosen to balance the number of GPUs with CPUs, which we have found to be important for large-scale deep learning,” the researchers wrote in a paper. The system is more efficient than a previous iteration:

With our system we have shown that we can comfortably train networks with well over 11 billion parameters—more than 6.5 times as large as the one reported in (Dean et al., 2012) (the largest previous network), and using fewer than 2% as many machines.

The research looks like another endorsement of the power of GPUs, a score for Nvidia and other GPU makers such as AMD. Nvidia GPUs already have gained traction inside the fastest supercomputers in existence, and now a trickle-down effect to more traditional data centers looks a bit more plausible. (Then again, the record-breaking Tianhe-2 supercomputer in China relies not on GPUs but a blend of Intel Xeon E5-2600 chips and Xeon Phi co-processors, according to a report from Data Center Knowledge, so the GPU campaign has a way to go.)

Of course, while the research gives further credence to the argument that high-performance computing on premise is not unrealistic, it comes as GPU-based cloud offerings are still available. Amazon Web Services has long since figured out that companies want to do high-performance computing with GPUs, and AWS’ Cluster GPU Instances incorporating Nvidia GPUshave gotten some known commercial use. Peer1, SGI and others also play here.

Interestingly, Google itself has not released a GPU option for its Cloud Platform, even though it calls on GPUs extensively for its Google Brain work. The researchers’ innovations could help Google develop a sound business model for selling GPU time as a service.

The research could also speed up other artificial-intelligence projects involving GPUs. Take robotic bees, for example, which are in need of a common brain to make sense of all the data the bees collect. Recognizing patterns more quickly with fewer machines at a lower price could help smart bees multiply.

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Why Qualcomm is likely to power Microsoft’s next Surface RT

Kevin C. Tofel — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 15:06:16 +0000

Even though we have no sales data on Microsoft’s Surface RT tablet, it doesn’t yet look like a hit. The $499-and-up device can now be had with a free Touch or Type Cover keyboard, which could signal a dump of inventory. That could be part of the scenario, but it’s also very likely that Microsoft is readying a new model. After all, some of the technology in Surface RT was available at least a year ago. In particular, the Nvidia Tegra 3 chip that powers the slate debuted in November 2011.

Nvidia’s new Tegra 4 chip is now available and this next generation has a whopping 72 graphics cores, not to mention that it reportedly offers better performance than rival Qualcomm’s latest silicon, the Snapdragon 800. Nvidia didn’t announce any Tegra 4 design wins at January’s Consumer Electronics Show, but at this week’s Computex event in Taiwan, Asus bet big on the new chip with its Transformer Infinity Pad, a high resolution Android tablet with keyboard dock. Toshiba, too, is using Tegra 4 chips in two new Excite tablets.

So Nvidia, which Microsoft chose for the current Windows RT device is the likely winner for a refreshed model, no? Perhaps not.

Qualcomm shows off Windows 8.1

Qualcomm announced its support for Microsoft Windows 8.1 on Tuesday, which by itself is no big surprise. Here’s an interested bit from the press release, however:

“At Computex Taipei 2013, Qualcomm Technologies is building on this innovation and collaboration with Microsoft by showing Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processors running on an early version of Windows RT 8.1.”

Again, this isn’t a huge surprise either but I haven’t seen any news of Nvidia showing off Windows RT 8.1. It could well be doing so — I’m not at the show — but there’s no press release to indicate any effort. For Nvidia, Computex seems to be an Android event.

Sometimes words can be louder than actions

Here’s another interesting angle: Which company has publicly supported Microsoft’s Windows RT effort?

Both of course, but Nvidia has commented negatively about Windows RT sales. In March, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang told developers that “Windows RT is disappointing to us because we expected to have sold more than we did.” While the sales disappointment is pretty obvious, some things are better left unsaid; especially when you’re a key Microsoft partner and supplying chips to the flagship device for the Windows RT platform.

The WinTel lesson

There’s also the long history of WinTel to consider: Windows software and Intel silicon. For years, this duopoly controlled the computer market and both companies involved benefited greatly. But as computing shifted to mobile, both Microsoft and Intel were hurt as well: Different operating systems on lower-powered chips have kept these two behemoths largely out of the mobile market.

Intel is just now showing signs of competitiveness while Microsoft’s progress is still relatively slow. I think the company has learned that it needs to work with various chipmakers, much like Google does with its hardware partners, choosing different ones for Nexus devices, including Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and Samsung. By choosing a chipmaker other than Nvidia, Microsoft would show that it has learned its lesson and won’t be integrating its strategy too tightly with a single silicon partner.

On paper, both chips are undoubtedly powerful enough for the next generation of Windows RT devices, not to mention Android smartphones and tablets. My gut, along with anecdotal evidence of late, tells me that when the next Surface RT device arrives, it will have silicon from Qualcomm, and not Nvidia, inside. It’s arguable, of course, but give it about six months or less and we should see which chipmaker wins the deal.

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The week in cloud: FUD and loathing edition

Barb Darrow — Sun, 26 May 2013 16:00:51 +0000

Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) has been a factor in technology adoption since, well since forever. And that there’s FUD around cloud adoption driven by data security concerns is a no brainer. Sure, companies can go for all sorts of security certifications, but it’s unclear that accreditation will ease cloud anxiety.

Fanning the FUD flame this week was a new report (PDF here) from the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property estimates that IP theft costs the U.S. economy $300 billion per year. Not surprisingly, China was fingered as the chief culprit, although Russia and India were also named as problem children here.

The panel, Reuters reported, wants to anoint the president’s national security advisor as grand poobah of a ramped-up effort to protect intellectual property. Bad behavior should be met with banking sanctions, import bans and financial blacklisting, according to the 89-page report. (In related news, former CIA Director James Woolsey this week warned that the U.S. is at risk of a cyber attack from North Korea which truly is scary. At least Chinese motives seem rational.)

Security, or lack thereof – is one big de-motivating factor when it comes to moving more corporate workloads to the cloud– or allowing employees to use their personal smartphones at work for that matter. But it would foolish for security vendors to waste a good crisis.

This week Verdasys, for example, launched an update to its managed security service to extend protection to users’ end-point devices. Expect a raft of similar offerings and updates to come.

Security guru Dan Geer says high-stakes hacking is now a way of life and the best any company can do is to mitigate, not eliminate, risk.

“If your enemy really is the People’s Liberation Army, what can you do? We can sputter about it but they’re serious and they’re good,” he told me in an interview last week. “The most serious attackers will probably get in no matter what you do. At this point, the design principal, if you’re a security person working inside a firm, is not failures, but no silent failures.”

The key is to know as soon as possible that a breach has occurred and to react fast.

Other than that, key design points are to keep things patched and to put firewall filtering both on incoming and outgoing traffic, said Geer.

Other key cloud news from GigaOM and elsewhere

It was a very busy week in cloud land. Here’s a recap of GigaOM’s coverage:

And from around the web:

PC World: Nvidia, Citrix crank up virtual desktop delivery

From The Guardian: Public,private or hybrid cloud.

Citrix Synergy 2013 live blog from Brian Madden.

And now, for your moment of Zen

With apologies to Jon Stewart:

Photo courtesy of Flickr user annabellaphoto

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$349 Nvidia Shield mobile gaming console is high-powered and premium priced

Kevin C. Tofel — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:41:28 +0000

Nvidia debuted its Project Shield gaming console in January and now the full details are available. On Tuesday, the company announced that Nvidia Shield — it’s no longer a “project” — is available for early pre-orders at $349. People who registered for product updates can reserve their device, while the general public can place orders on May 20. Nvidia plans to ship the first Shield devices in June.

If you missed the original announcement, Shield is literally Nvidia’s play to get directly into the mobile gaming hardware business. The handheld device is shaped like a Microsoft Xbox 360 controller with two important additions: A 5-inch 720p touchscreen display and bass reflex stereo speakers. Inside Shield is Nvidia’s Tegra 4 chip with 72 custom GPU cores and four Cortex-A15 CPU cores. Essentially, this is a mobile gaming console with hardware controls.

I was impressed by the device demo I saw in January: Not only does Shield play Google Android games it supports game streaming from a PC, provided that computer has an NVIDIA GeForce GTX GPU inside. Nvidia has also worked with Steam — an online computer gaming distribution company — to get PC quality games on Shield. I’m leery about the price, however.

Sony’s PS Vita is at least $100 below the $349 Nvidia Shield price, and Sony’s game machine isn’t the hottest seller right now. Instead, mobile gaming has increasingly moved towards tablets and smartphones instead of dedicated mobile game consoles.

I know that Shield has all of the whiz-bang features essential to mobile gaming — solid controls, a fast processor and multiple graphics cores, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and a 720p display — but I have doubts about the market supporting the $349 price tag. Perhaps I’ll feel differently when I have the chance to spend more time with the device. For now, my enthusiasm for Nvidia Shield is somewhat diminished.

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ZTE to use Nvidia’s latest Tegra 4 chip in next-gen phones

Stacey Higginbotham — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 01:00:38 +0000

Fresh off the launch of its Tegra 4i chips that integrate a modem and the tegra applciaiton processor, Nvidia is announcing a customer win for its standalone Tegra 4 applciaiton processor. ZTE, the Chinese handset and equipment maker, will produce a smartphone using the Tegra 4 processor and later, another smartphone using Nvidia’s i500 LTE modem.

The Tegra 4 handset is anticipated in the first half of 2013 according to Nvidia, and follows ZTE’s use of Nvidia’s Tegra 2 and 3 processors and Icera modem in earlier phones. It’s also the beginning of handsets designed to wow users with full HD playback and other features that require some serious processing power.

Nvidia isn’t the only company pushing more powerful application processors and flexible modems; ST-Ericsson announced a 3GHz monstrosity today as part of its NovaThor line of integrated chips. While ST-Ericsson is only showing off a prototype, the specs clearly show that it too has visions of faster phones that require a lot of processing power.

The NovaThor also supports a huge variety of mobile radio technologies that make it useful in many geographic areas. For those who want to get technical, the NovaThor L8580 supports downlink speeds up to 150Mbps as well as LTE-FDD, LTE-TDD, HSPA+, GSM and TD-SCDMA. It has up to 17 bands in the same device and a single radio for carrier aggregation, which is what enables it to tune into frequencies in many markets. Like Broadcom’s latest modem, ST-Ericsson and Nvidia are pushing the bar when it comes to building radios that can travel far and wide even if a country uses different frequencies for their LTE deployments.

In many ways the future of phones is the same has it had been, more performance in more places. Technology is awesome.

The story was corrected on Feb. 21 to reflect the fact that ZTE is launching two phones one with the Tegra 4 and one later, using the i500 modem.

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Nvidia launches its Qualcomm-killer: The Tegra 4i

Stacey Higginbotham — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:00:03 +0000

Nvidia has launched an integrated smartphone chip designed for mainstream smartphones in a bid to take on Qualcomm’s processor dominance in mobile handsets. The Tegra 4i is part of what will now be a family of Tegra 4 smartphone chips, with the 4 aimed at high-end phones and tablets and the 4i aimed at phones in the $100 to $200 range.

The Tegra 4i could support delivery of 1080p video playback on a 5-inch screen, according to the reference design Nvidia showed off with the launch (see above). The Nvidia spokesman expects features like the HD playback to become mainstream by the time these chips hit the market at the end of 2013.

Nvidia, which entered the smartphone market in 2008 with its Tegra application processor that combined its graphics processors with an ARM-based core, has high hopes for the mobile market. But its first iterations were hampered by a lack of integrated modem on the chips like Qualcomm offered. An integrated modem lowers the number of parts inside the phone as well as the overall cost.

In 2011 Nvidia purchased Icera, which makes a software defined radio that will tune into a variety of frequencies. The Tegra 4i is its first chip that integrates the Icera chip on the same die as the Tegra application processor. Thus, the chip with support LTE as well as versions of HSPA in use by U.S. carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile.

The integration will deliver a smaller chip (made at the 28 nanometer process node) that will presumably consume less power. However, in a conference call ahead of the launch, Nvidia’s spokesman didn’t have specifics on the processor’s affect on battery life — a criticism that has dogged the Nvidia chips in the past.

From a spec side, the 4i will deliver up to 2.3 GHz and compares with Qualcomm’s chips using its Krait processor. The chip uses the ARM Cortex-A9 as opposed to the ARM A15 chip the Tegra 4 will use, and it has 60 CPU cores. While not designed for tablets, it’s conceivable that the smaller, cheaper tablets might well use the Tegra 4i design according to the Nvidia spokesman.

As we head into the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona we’re likely to see several chip and handset design announcements as well as a peek into the smartphones we’ll be using next year.

This story was corrected at 11 a.m. on Feb. 19 to reflect that Nvidia purchased Icera in 2011 not in 2009.

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Android this week: Project Shield packs a punch; Optimus G Pro goes big; RunKeeper revamped

Kevin C. Tofel — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 13:56:29 +0000

This week didn’t bring any new pricing or availability details for Nvidia’s Project Shield, however the portable gaming device was featured in a new video. The Android-based handheld, designed and built around the company’s new Tegra 4 chip, pairs a 5-inch 720p touchscreen display with gaming controls similar to an Xbox 360 controller.

At the end of the week, Nvidia showed off the Real Boxing game title on Project Shield, focusing on in-game lighting, graphics and general game play:

Nvidia plans a continuing series of Project Shield videos, which will help to keep interest high. But regardless of how excited the Android and gaming communities could be based on demonstrations, success is likely to come down to the handheld’s price. I’m still hoping to see Project Shield debut at $250 or less, but many in the industry that I’ve spoken to expect a price at or north of $300.

If Project Shield isn’t big enough for you, perhaps the LG Optimus G Pro is: Phone Arena captured an image of the phone and compiled a list of specifications of this handset with 5.5-inch display.

That’s as large as my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 phone, but LG is one-upping Samsung: The Optimus G Pro is expected to have a full HD screen with 1920 x 1080 resolution. Additional specs include a quad-core 1.7 GHz processor, 2 GB of memory, 13 megapixel camera 32 GB of internal storage and high-capacity 3,140 mAh battery. I’d expect the phone to run all day (and then some) on a single charge, even with the higher resolution display.

Unlike the Optimus G Pro, I can’t run all day. When I do run, though, I tend to use mobile apps or a smartwatch to track my exercise. This week, RunKeeper for Android got a refresh that improves on what I think was already a great app.

RunKeeper version 3 for Android has a new look and feel because the team used Google’s Android development guidelines for the redesign. The software also adds some new features including in-activity splits, a tab to view your personal goals and stats, improved audio cues in workouts and workout reminders. Many of these functions were already available in RunKeeper for iOS so it’s good to see the Android version catch up in this functionality race.

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Code bits hint at an Nvidia Tegra 4 Chromebook

Kevin C. Tofel — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 17:15:10 +0000

A new Chromebook powered by Nvidia’s latest quad-core chip could be on the horizon. Chrome Story noticed a new Chrome OS build referencing support and testing for a “T114 Dalmore” chip, which Liliputing notes is likely Nvidia’s Tegra 4, announced officially last month. There haven’t been many products with Tegra 4 chips announced to date, so such a Chromebook could be a boon for the chip company.

Indeed, I was surprised when no hardware makers announced actual upcoming products with a Tegra 4 at Nvidia’s CES press event last month. Instead, the company showed off its own hardware: The Project Shield gaming handheld powered by a Tegra 4 chip. Recently, there have been rumors that Nvidia will create its own reference hardware around the Tegra 4, in order to help partners create new products quicker.

Perhaps then, such a reference device is a Chromebook that’s not only powered by Nvidia, but branded with the company name as well.

Samsung, which has more experience building laptops, does this with its own Chromebook and Exynos 5, which uses a dual-core Cortex-A15 architecture. Performance of the chip while running Google’s Chrome OS is acceptable, but slower than the Intel-powered Chromebooks. A Tegra 4 Chromebook may be a step faster as the new Tegra uses a quad-core A15 design.

If a Tegra-powered Chromebook were to come to market, the most likely launch time would be this year’s Google I/O event taking place in May. It’s possible we see such a device prior to that since it seems everyone is starting to jump on the Chrome OS bandwagon — HP is the latest, having launched a 14-inch Chromebook earlier this week — but I have my doubts that we’ll see anything before Google I/O.

Then again, if Nvidia doesn’t get some products with Tegra 4 in them soon, it may push this testing and integration effort forward and we see a Chromebook powered by Nvidia sooner than later.

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Nvidia’s Project Shield in action: Borderlands 2 on a handheld

Kevin C. Tofel — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 13:11:03 +0000

One of the more surprising and interesting announcements out of last months Consumer Electronics Show was Nvidia’s Project Shield, a handheld gaming device powered by the company’s new Tegra 4 chip. Looking like a large Xbox 360 controller, Project Shield includes a 5-inch 720p display and runs on Android. It’s one of Nvidia’s first forays into building its own complete consumer devices; the only Nvidia products on store shelves now are graphics cards for PCs.

Although Project Shield was demonstrated on stage at CES, Nvidia is planning a number of weekly follow-up videos to show off the product. The first is now online and while it’s clearly an attempt to market the handheld and highlight the Tegra 4 chip capabilities, I think it’s worth sharing for two reasons. First, few people have really seen this device in action and second, the product may be the best yet at bringing true PC gaming to portable devices.

This particular demo focuses more on streaming a game from the PC to Project Shield, so I doubt the Tegra 4 chip is working hard; the device is essentially a remote client to the local computer or Wi-Fi. Still, there doesn’t appears to be any lag at all, which is both impressive and necessary for this type of gaming solution.

I’m definitely interested in seeing demonstrations of how Android games look and run on Project Shield because gamers aren’t always near their PC for game streaming. Prior games optimized for the Tegra 3 were impressive and I expect more of the same on Project Shield.

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Battery startup Leyden Energy raises $10M for its next-gen lithium ion batteries

Katie Fehrenbacher — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 16:37:04 +0000

After shifting its customer focus over the past year a bit, battery startup Leyden Energy announced on Wednesday that it’s closed a series C round of $10 million to continue to work on commercialization. The company was previously looking to sell its next-generation lithium ion batteries for e-bikes, electric vehicles, laptops and even the power grid, but is now more focused on tablets and start stop vehicle tech.

Leyden Energy was founded in 2007 (formerly called Mobius Power) with a patent acquired from chemical giant Dupont, and a $4.5 million investment from investors. Leyden’s original secret sauce is an innovation for the electrolyte part of the battery. A battery has a positive and a negative plate and then an electrolyte in between, which is the substance through which electrons transfer back and forth while the battery charges and discharges.

In addition to its electrolyte innovation, Leyden also has a new breakthrough technology for a silicon anode that boosts the energy density (amount of energy stored per volume) and enables the battery to be made in a very slim form factor. Many battery companies combine next-generation technology in each part of the battery to produce a better whole battery in production.

Making lithium ion batteries slim is a priority for Leyden. It’s recently been focused on tablets and consumer electronics and announced an effort with chipmaker NVIDIA to design tablets; it also has been courting makers of chargers for smart phones and devices for personal Wi-Fi hot spots. A couple years ago Leyden launched a replacement lithium-ion battery for laptops that won’t degrade (start losing its full charge) for at least three years, and will come with a three-year warranty.

Start-stop vehicle tech, which uses a battery to automatically cut off the engine of a gas-powered vehicle while it’s idling, is another target area for Leyden. Start-stop vehicle technology is starting to gain momentum in Europe, following carbon reduction regulations, and the technology can reduce fuel use by 5 to 12 percent.

These are difficult times for battery startups right now, particularly those that were hoping the electric car market would take off faster than it has. Lithium ion battery leader A123 Systems recently went bankrupt and then was sold to Chinese auto parts giant Wanxiang. Battery maker Ener1 also filed for bankruptcy last year.

But there’s still some rare next-gen battery startups looking to innovate around new materials, new production techniques, and nanotechnology. Here’s 13 battery startups to watch in 2013.

Leyden’s series C round of $10 million came from existing investors including NEA, Lightspeed Ventures, Sigma Partners and Walden International. The company has raised $48 million in venture capital since it was founded.

Images courtesy of Leyden Energy.

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